While middleweight Gerald Harris (17-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) has yet to be featured on the main card of a UFC event, that doesn’t mean he’s not getting noticed.

Being on ESPN can do that for you.

“When I was leaving the airport, I saw (professional wrestler) Goldberg,” Harris told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “I was like, ‘I don’t want to bother that guy because he’s busy.’ Then I said, ‘Forget it; it’s Goldberg.’

“I said, ‘Excuse me, sir. I fought last night, and I just want your autograph. I don’t want to bother you.’ He was like, ‘Really? How did you do?’ I said, ‘I won.’ He said, ‘Oh, my God, dude. You were on ‘SportsCenter’ this morning.’ He grabbed me and took a picture with me. I was like, ‘Hell, yeah!'”

Such is the journey of Harris from the relative anonymity of the regional circuits he affectionately calls the “Bum Fighting Championships” to being featured as one of sports’ top-10 daily highlights for his UFC 116 knockout slam of Dave Branch this past Saturday.

“The last-minute fights, not knowing who my opponent was, fighting in small shows, big shows, big crowds, crazy crowds – I’ve been through it all,” Harris said. “There’s nothing new that can happen to me in the UFC that I haven’t experienced on a lower level.

“I’m glad I went the route that I did. I didn’t choose that route. I was forced into it, but I’m glad it worked that way.”

Harris had a few near-misses. He was signed by the now-defunct International Fight League in 2007, but it was within that promotion’s ropes where “Hurricane” suffered his only two professional defeats. He was then a cast member on “The Ultimate Fighter 7,” but he lost to eventual champion Amir Sadollah.

But following his third-straight octagon win over a UFC newcomer, opponents that other fighters might take lightly, Harris said it was the added time in the local ranks that honed his focus.

“I realize [the quality of my opponents] because I’m coming from the local shows,” Harris said. “I don’t look at it as, ‘I’m fighting this new guy. I’m in the UFC.’ I can be 6-0 (in the UFC) and fighting a newcomer; I don’t care. I could be eight fights down the road and they give me a newcomer, and I’ll just be like, ‘It’s on. Let’s go.’

“I’m not ever going to think somebody’s not on my level or, ‘This guy doesn’t deserve to fight me.’ That’s just a terrible thing to say.”

Such was the case with Branch, who gave Harris a good run until third round. But Harris also has respect for his previous octagon foes Mario Miranda and John Salter, as well.

“Mario Miranda was a beast. John Salter – straight off the NCAA championships in wrestling. This Dave Branch guy’s brother is a professional boxer, and he’s a black belt in jiu-jitsu under Renzo Gracie.”

With his Saturday night win, Harris has now won 10-straight fights overall, and with his ESPN-featured slam of Branch, the Oklahoman already has a signature moment.

And according to Harris, it was all by design.

“I usually slam to the body to take a little cardio out of them, a little confidence,” Harris said. “It’s more of a mental thing than a physical one, but if you slam somebody right, you can hurt them. That last one was all intentions on knocking him out. That’s kind of way I didn’t hit him again. The other [slams] were just to get out of submissions and get him off of me.

“That last one, I knew I was trying to knock him out. When I came up, I checked his face because it would have turned a great moment into something that the paparazzi could talk about because they don’t like MMA already. If I would have slammed this guy and started pounding his face in three or four more times, I wouldn’t be on ESPN.”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by Gorgeous George, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Goze. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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